A Yearning For What?

Since my last post I have made a concerted effort to sit down at my desk and drive my project forward; and it seems to have worked. By the end of last week I had almost finished painting the figures that I had sketched and then the week we are in now, which is drawing to a close as I type, I had booked off as holiday. Perfect...a whole week in which to complete my latest piece of work.

Here are a couple of the painted sketches:-

But I know how easily distracted I can be and the temptation to do other things with a whole week of freedom at my disposal could prove to be too much. Then the 'Beast from the East' arrived, the whole of my immediate world was blanketed in snow, and cosying-up at my desk with a constant supply off hot cups of coffee and tea proved to be ideal conditions for finishing my work - Hooray!

I have titled the piece 'A Yearning for What' and, again, it focuses on home. It consists of a series of nine interiors that I took from magazines because something in them caught my eye, or tugged at my self conscious. I've looked at so many images of interiors now, trying to absorb and identify why I like them, why I don't like them, how a particular composition makes me covet it for my own, that it's sent me dizzy...I've put the magazines out of sight for now!

I sketched a figure to inhabit each of the interiors, all the figures from images of Victoria Beckham that I have collected. She is incredibly beautiful and stylish as well as being a hard working and successful business woman and mother. She is one of my heroines and style icons. I don't wear rose-tinted spectacles; I'm aware she has her faults, as we all do. But a part of me is captivated by her.

This is the complete series:-

And this is a closer look at a couple:-

I even managed to close up my desk once I was done. It's usually open and strewn with stationery, paper, paints, like this:-

But for a day it looked like this:-

So, my week off has been quite productive, and it's been such a treat to watch the snow falling. The biting cold I could have done without and I did go into a mild panic attack one morning when I woke up and realised there was no toastie loaf in the cupboard. I couldn't rest until I'd ventured out for one - which has now been put away, unopened, into the freezer. I really had enough already with my supply of crumpets and hot cross buns.

Another anxious moment was when some news reporter mentioned that we were going to run out of gas. I wish they would get their facts straight before saying things like this out loud on a public broadcast network. This is the kind of thing that can tip a person over the edge...I think it has something to do with age and hormones!!!

Keep warm
Amanda xxx